Missouri Republicans have selected Jason Smith, a 32-year-old state representative, as their nominee in the June special election to succeed former GOP Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.

An 84-person committee of state Republican officials convened Saturday to pick Smith, who was victorious over a group of candidates that included former Senate candidate Sarah Steelman, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, and former Missouri Republican Party Chairman Lloyd Smith.

Smith, a conservative who has been serving in the state House of Representatives since 2005, secured the nod after six rounds of voting in which his opponents were eliminated.

Smith’s nomination makes him the on favorite to capture the heavily Republican southeast Missouri seat, which the nine-term Emerson resigned from this year to take a post at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

“We’re going to win this seat,” Smith said after winning the nomination, according to the Associated Press.

The fiscal irresponsibility, he said, “in Washington, D.C., is what’s destroying our country, and we’ve got to take control of it and get it back.”

Missouri Democratic officials will gather later this month to select their nominee.